The UK Gambling Commission announced the reappointments of John Baillie and Catharine Seddon as Commissioners at the national gambling regulator effective December 31, 2022.

The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Nadine Dorries has re-appointed Baillie and Seddon as Commissioners to further strengthen expertise at the national gambling regulator. Both Commissioners will commence fulfilling their duties at the beginning of 2023 and will have a mandate until April 10, 2024.

Bringing Financial Expertise

A Chartered Accountant and a former partner of KPMG in London and Scotland, Baillie is a former Chair of the Scottish local authority watchdog, the Accounts Commission for Scotland, where he has served two terms for three years each.

Baillie has also been serving for several years as a Chair of Audit Scotland, the Scottish organization mirroring the National Audit Office, and was a member of the Reporting Panel of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for nine years.

Baillie was also heavily involved with the UK educational system, serving as a visiting professor of accountancy at several Scottish universities, including the University of Edinburgh

Huge Regulatory Experience

With 14 years of public service experience as a non-executive director, mainly for national regulators, Seddon has a broader area of expertise than Baillie and since 2017 has been serving at the Gambling Commission as the Senior Independent Director.

Her other current commitments include being the Deputy Chair and Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the Senior Independent Director of the Legal Services Board, as well as a member of the board of the Children and Family Courts Advisory and Support Service where he joined recently.

Seddon’s previous positions include roles with the Human Tissue Authority and The Pensions Regulator in a non-executive capacity.

She is also heavily involved with the judicial system, sitting on tribunals in mental health and employment and serving as a county courts lay assessor on civil cases and a presiding magistrate in Central London.

A member of the Health Service Products Appeal Tribunal and a trustee for special needs charity CPotential, Seddon also is a tutor for the Civil Service College.

Seddon is the owner of her own independent production film company, leveraging her two decades-long experience as a high-end film documentary maker with the BBC and C4.